Camouflage techniques are used to obscure objects for the purpose of decreasing or preventing detection. One camouflage technique involves constructing objects having certain surface patterns. These patterns are designed to blend into the environment and conceal the object from visual detection.
Camouflage patterns were initially developed for military applications in WWI to conceal troops and equipment from detection by enemy forces. Eventually, the use of camouflage spread to civilian use as hunters recognized the benefits of camouflage to conceal themselves and their equipment from wildlife. Other outdoor enthusiasts, such as paint ball players, bird watchers, and other nature enthusiasts also commonly use camouflage.
Initially, camouflage patterns used by hunters were similar to the early military patterns of randomly arranged colored splotches. Later, as printing and photography techniques improved, camouflage patterns were developed that incorporated the colors and imagery of a particular environment. As a result, camouflage patterns moved from simple patterns having only a handful of color variations, generally green, brown, or grey, to a wide assortment of patterns targeted to a particular environment and even to a particular season. For example, a camouflage pattern designed for a timber forest in the fall season may contain elements having brown, orange, and yellow. In contrast, a camouflage pattern designed for a timber forest in the winter season may contain elements having brown and white.
Many modern camouflage patterns include photorealistic images of a particular environment. These patterns generally contain high quality images of a single perspective of the vegetation and/or background flora and fauna. These patterns are most effective in concealing a hunter when the perspective displayed in the pattern matches the perspective in the surrounding environment (i.e., the background and/or foreground).
For example, a photorealistic pattern including reed stalks is most effective when the hunter is standing amongst reed stalks. These patterns, however, lose their effectiveness when the hunter moves to a nearby location having a different type of vegetation in which reed stalks are not prevalent. In that situation, the reed stalk pattern causes the hunter to stand-out, rather than blend into his or her surroundings.
Accordingly, patterns that mimic a specific environment with high detail, as do many photorealistic patterns, are inherently less suited to other environments or even to different areas within a target environment.
Accordingly, it would be an advance in the state of the art to provide a camouflage pattern for outdoor garments and hunting equipment that is highly effective in obscuring an individual across a range of microterrains within a larger target environment.